Poll: 64% of Americans favor Israelis in conflict with Palestinians

By

Ray Downs

A demonstrator holds up an Israeli and an American flag as 3,500 demonstrators gather in Federal Plaza to voice support for Israel in Chicago on July 17, 2006. Today, Americans' support for Israel is at its highest level since 2013, according to a Gallup poll. File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI | License Photo

March 13 (UPI) -- A Gallup poll published Tuesday found that 64 percent of Americans sympathize with Israelis in the conflict with Palestinians.

The poll, which surveyed 1,044 adults in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, reveals the highest level of support for Israel since 2013, which also found 64 percent of Americans favoring the Jewish state over the majority Muslim occupied territory.

"Israel and the Palestinian Authority have nearly reverse images in the U.S., further underscoring Americans' partiality for Israel in the Mideast conflict," Gallup said.

But support for Palestinians is also at a high point, with 19 percent of Americans sympathizing more with them, which is the second-highest level since Gallup began conducting the poll in 1988. Sympathy for Palestinians reached its highest level -- 20 percent -- in 2007.

"The broad contours of Americans' perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remain about the same under President Donald Trump as they've been in recent years," Gallup said. "Most Americans view Israel favorably and the Palestinian Authority unfavorably, resulting in a strong tendency for Americans to sympathize with Israel in the territorial conflict and to call for greater diplomatic pressure to be placed on the Palestinians."